German Classes Research Articles

O emprego do aplicativo móvel Duolingo no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de alemão como língua estrangeira em contexto de ensino presencial universitário

O presente estudo retrata uma experiência com uso do aplicativo móvel Duolingo no processo de ensino e aprendizagem de alemão como língua estrangeira em contexto de ensino presencial universitário e discute o emprego do App como recurso complementar para aumentar o contato dos aprendizes com o idioma e expandir o vocabulário. A pesquisa empírica parte dahipótese de que por ser um recurso gratuito, interativo, gamificado e que permite acesso ilimitado aos conteúdos, o aplicativo móvel Duolingo pode contribuir com a regularidade do contato com a língua e consequentemente ampliar o vocabulário dos aprendizes. Como instrumento de coleta de dados utilizamos os relatórios individuais de atividade, os quais foram gerados pela Plataforma Duolingo para Escolas. A pesquisa contribui para esclarecer as questões que se colocam acerca da utilização dos aplicativos móveis no ensino de língua estrangeira. Os resultados encontrados apontam que Duolingo é uma ferramenta que pode ser empregada para complementar o ensino presencial de alemão, auxiliando no processo de aquisição de vocabulário. O trabalho aponta para a importância dos Apps como ferramentas de apoio ao processo de aprendizagem de alemão e deixa claro a adesão massiva dos aprendizes ao uso de Apps como recurso complementar ao ensino presencial.

My Life with Hawthorne

My Life with Hawthorne

The reflection of the first foreign language (English) by utilizing translanguaging strategies in the teaching of second foreign language (German)

The present study aims to identify translanguaging strategies and question the effectiveness of these strategies in foreign language classrooms. To this aim, a 10th grade German class was observed during fall and spring semesters of 2017-2018 academic year, and interviews before, during and after observation process were conducted with the German language teacher of the second foreign language classroom. Based on the studies of the City University of New York, to provide half of the instruction in English while the other half in the target language through translanguaging strategies is quite beneficial and fruitful for foreign language learning. Translanguaging as an emerging application is accepted as a part of both education and language equality. By challenging the rigid separation of foreign languages in the classroom, translanguaging strategies ensure that teachers employ a 50-50 model of first foreign language and target foreign language while teaching an additional foreign language. Findings of the current research showed that the teacher prefers using vocabulary and syntax-based strategies in her second foreign language classroom, and the students generally responded to the use of these strategies and used them to participate activities and raise questions. Considering specifically the interview transcriptions, it was detected that the teacher uses translanguaging strategies undeliberately, but willingly, without any planning.

The reflection of the first foreign language (English) by utilizing translanguaging strategies in the teaching of second foreign language (German)

The present study aims to identify translanguaging strategies and question the effectiveness of these strategies in foreign language classrooms. To this aim, a 10th grade German class was observed during fall and spring semesters of 2017-2018 academic year, and interviews before, during and after observation process were conducted with the German language teacher of the second foreign language classroom. Based on the studies of the City University of New York, to provide half of the instruction in English while the other half in the target language through translanguaging strategies is quite beneficial and fruitful for foreign language learning. Translanguaging as an emerging application is accepted as a part of both education and language equality. By challenging the rigid separation of foreign languages in the classroom, translanguaging strategies ensure that teachers employ a 50-50 model of first foreign language and target foreign language while teaching an additional foreign language. Findings of the current research showed that the teacher prefers using vocabulary and syntax-based strategies in her second foreign language classroom, and the students generally responded to the use of these strategies and used them to participate activities and raise questions. Considering specifically the interview transcriptions, it was detected that the teacher uses translanguaging strategies undeliberately, but willingly, without any planning.

Types of tasks in the didactization of materials to trace the German in the history of Kiev

The article is devoted to the problem of didactization of linguistic and historical materials about the activities of German immigrants in the territory of Kyiv. The main focus is on the choice and justification of the types of tasks for using these materials during German classes. It is determined that semi-open and open types of tasks are optimal in the process of didactization of these materials. A number of tasks have been developed on the basis of materials on the contribution of German architects to the design and construction of recognized architectural monuments of Kyiv. It has been found that the proposed assignments are appropriate to use for students at B1 + level in accordance with the Common European Guidelines for Language Education. The developed tasks are based on the following principles: communicative orientation, activity orientation, intercultural sensitization, and scaffolding.

Message in a Bottle

This project aims to develop a culture of affection, with a view to humanization and the development of the feeling of belonging in the relations of the school community, based on the exercise of citizenship. Messages, prepared by students in Portuguese classes, were placed in reused plastic bottles, decorated for this purpose in Visual Education classes. The messages were translated by students to English, French and German classes and by various elements of the school community, totalling nine different languages. The bottles were successfully delivered by the school to health care institutions. This project has been implemented since the 2015-2016, and 416 messages were distributed to 20 stakeholders. We want messages to be sent to as many people as possible, both at regional, national and international level.

Improving Leadership Qualities during Foreign Language Classes

Abstract Numerous specialists agree with the fact that learning at least one other foreign language brings a multitude of advantages both to the individual who makes the effort to learn it, but also to the society he or she is part of. At the “Nicolae Bălcescu” Land Forces Academy, cadets learn about leadership not only from the specialized courses like Fundamentals of Leadership or Military Leaderships, but they can find opportunities to improve their leading skills and qualities during the foreign language classes. The article focuses on some of the most important qualities of a leader and offers suggestions on how these could be developed during the English, French or German classes. We believe that the foreign language courses will help students develop much needed leadership traits like adaptability, flexibility, open mindedness, the capacities of being good team players, good listeners and good communicators. These are qualities without which they will have a very hard time functioning not only in an international environment but also in a national one. As teachers we have to understand that it is more than vocabulary and grammar that we help our students learn, we also help them to learn about life, about being leaders of others.

Multilingual Awareness in L3 English and German Class in Primary School

The paper addresses the development of multilingual awareness of students in the fifth grade of primary school within the following language constellation L3 German after L2 English and L3 English after L2 German. The research focuses on two issues relating to the students’ ability to notice and verbalize cross-linguistic links in L3 – L2 – L1 systems. The research established that participants recognize, to a high degree, cross-lingual connections of the second foreign language (L3) with the first foreign language (L2) and the mother tongue (L1), and that the majority of students are able to verbalize them. What is more, a positive correlation has been established between noticing and explaining cross-lingual connections. The results show that 11-year-old students have the potential to develop elements of cross-linguistic and metalinguistic awareness based on which they can be exposed to systematic input directed towards developing multilingual awareness. Placing that finding in the context of previous research findings about the positive connectedness of the level of language awareness of multilinguals and their language competence, the paper discusses the need for introducing structured development of multilingual awareness into teaching third languages in primary school. Key words: cross-linguistic awareness; metalinguistic awareness; primary language education; plurilingual competence; third language acquisition

Zu einigen problematischen Fragen der Fachsprachenvermittlung am Beispiel des Deutschunterrichts bei Juristen

This article deals with the subject of language teaching using the example of German lessons for lawyers. As part of the “Justice for Development” project, free language teaching was offered to judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police and other Latvian legal system employees in 2018. The language selection was limited to 3 foreign languages: English, German and French. Because it was teaching of the professional language (language for special purposes), no beginner groups were formed, and no beginner lessons offered. The participants should at least have knowledge of German at level A 2 with the prospect of offering the opportunity to further develop their knowledge at other levels. Before the beginning of the project, the needs assessment was also carried out internally and the teachers were presented the results of this analysis in a summarized form, where they could see the main topics and wishes of the participants. The following thematic groups were predominant: Civil Law, Commercial Law and Criminal Law. Most of the group members were judges. The main aims of the participants: to learn German were to be able to attend German conferences and to communicate privately, and to read legal documents. During the teaching process arose several problems, which were discussed in more detail in the article, which were the lack of appropriate teaching and learning materials, different fields of interest of the participants and also little experience in the legal field of the teacher. Working with original documents is still difficult in A2 level German classes. Existing textbooks specializing in legal language are difficult to access, limited number, published 10–20 years ago, are morally obsolete, and contain institutional and phenomenon designations that no longer exist. Materials published in Germany or on the Internet can present the German legal system, but in Latvia the judicial system differs. These materials can only be used in contrast. It is also advisable to use feature films about German judges and attorneys, where you can also learn the necessary legal vocabulary when relaxing. Co-operation between the lecturer and the group members is also highly recommended, as their rich legal experience enables them to improve the quality of German language lessons. The learning process should also emphasize the importance of autonomous learning and the differentiation/ individualization of teaching and learning.

Meeting The Bamfords: The Accounts of Victor Aimé Huber and of Fanny Lewald

The distinguished German scholar and political commentator Victor Aimé Huber travelled to Blackley in 1844 to see Samuel Bamford on the recommendation of Thomas Carlyle, in order to pursue his study of the Social Question in England. In 1850 his compatriot, the celebrated novelist and travel writer Fanny Lewald, on a tour of England and Scotland, paid a social visit to the Bamfords instigated by the writer Geraldine Jewsbury, who subsequently arranged for her to see Samuel Bamford again, in Manchester. The reports provide a wealth of information about the Bamfords’ circumstances, opinions and reflections on their past. They also point up differences between English and German culture, class and social conventions. For both Huber and Lewald, meeting the Bamfords was one of the most revealing experiences of their stay in Britain. Whilst reviews of Passages in the Life of a Radical in the German press, like the critique in the Quarterly Review, contain both partisan and measured appraisal, by the late 1840s Bamford’s account of Peterloo had become the standard reference text in German-speaking lands.

German Goes Global Studies

Both of the participants in this dialogue are professors of German, and both were involved in recent efforts to develop Global Studies programs at their institutions. While one teaches at a small, private, liberal arts college and the other at a large, urban, public research university, both participated in these projects with the pragmatic desire to help boost enrollments in German classes and with the humanistic goal of situating deep cultural knowledge of German‐speaking countries and the German language within a broader global context. In their discussion, they address how their institutions came to the idea of creating a Global Studies program, the process involved in designing it, the sources of help and resistance they encountered along the way, and how Global Studies is now benefitting their German programs.

Alternative spatial hierarchies: a cross-border spouse’s positioning strategies in the face of Germany’s ‘pre-integration’ language test

ABSTRACT This paper examines how spouses waiting in Turkey to be reunited with their partner in Europe experience border regimes and deal with the transnationalised discourses on ‘marriage migrants’ they encounter. It is based on the analysis of a single narrative interview, that of a woman taking German classes at Goethe Institute in Istanbul in order to pass the required language test. Like other respondents, she is confronted with negative gendered preconceptions regarding ‘Turkish import brides’. Her boundary work involves mobilising alternative hierarchies in an attempt to discursively construct a different Turkey than the one generally represented: she draws on social class (positioning herself as a member of the highly educated, mobile and economically better off), socio-spatial units (focusing on her urbanity) and gender (experiencing ‘modern’ and equal gender relationships). The paper emphasises the importance of the socio-spatial context, here the classroom, where boundary-making takes place. It also provides insights into the effects of global spatial hierarchies on migrants and their alternative narratives, a dimension that can only be understood through a decentred analysis. The article contributes to studies on cross-border marriages by analysing the ‘outgoing’ side, a perspective still rarely addressed in the literature.

Performance for Introverts?

A common preconception about performance in the foreign language classroom sees performance as geared towards extroverts: students who readily contribute to verbal classroom interaction in any case. If true, this claim would be particularly problematic when advocating not only for the integration of isolated instances of performance, but for a fundamentally performance-based approach to language teaching. Such an approach would then further widen the gap between those participants who are more and those who are less comfortable in underdefined social spaces. This article draws on data from a larger study on FL classroom interaction and student agency during performance activities in intermediate German classes. Conversation analytic methods are used to trace how participation for one very reticent student evolves over the course of an intensive summer class. The development happens during extended performance activities with a Teacher-in-Role (TiR) strategy, and in particular due to the initiative of his classmates to shape a welcoming social space. They offer a range of carefully crafted participation openings, and the quiet student responds and later initiates conversational moves on his own. This case study provides discourse based, micro-analytic support for previous claims about the benefits of performance for class dynamics and participation.

Использование технологии Lapbook на занятиях по иностранному языку в системе высшего иноязычного образования

The study discusses the implementation of the activity-based approach in modern educational process. Lapbook technology is a fresh language teaching technique in Russia that appeals to the creative activity of the students’ personalities, helps develop a number of skills in students, and involves their knowledge of other subjects and relevant abilities. The authors define the term ‘lapbook technology’ and provide a detailed algorithm for creating lapbooks and using them in the higher foreign language education system. Its elements and advantages are identified, and its characteristics are described as comprehensive development tools for all types of speech activity in a foreign language. The paper demonstrates the practicability of the lapbook technology in German classes in accordance with the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard of Higher Education. The research findings can be used when teaching languages at Russian universities. Based on personal teaching experience and international studies, the authors conclude that lapbook technology is an effective foreign language teaching technique while studying and using authentic materials in the educational process.

Zur Nutzung von Laut- bzw. Anlauttabellen im Deutschunterricht der Grundschule

AbstractIn current debates the media, policy makers and scientists are aiming to identify factors explaining negative trends in the orthography competencies of German primary school students. Especially a concept making use of initial sound tables and the method “reading by writing“ is often identified as a core factor. However empirical studies backing these claims are rare and contradictory. Also very little is known about the actual use of initial sound tables in primary schools. In this article we provide an overview of empirical studies on the effectiveness of the use of initial sound tables and the concept “reading by writing“. We then present data from a short teacher survey on the use of initial sound tables in German classes, which was realized as an extension to the PIRLS 2016 and is therefore representative for German primary schools. According to this survey about 70 % of all Grade 4 learners of 2016 have been exposed to initial sound tables as part of their German lessons throughout primary school. About half of these learners were asked to work almost every lesson with these tables in their first one-half years of schooling. We also find that teachers who work with sound tables differ in their beliefs about when student’s spelling mistakes should be corrected. In addition we find that the majority of teachers report to combine the use of sound tables with other materials, such as basic readers. We argue especially this finding should guide future designs of studies aiming to compare the effectiveness of different methods as most of the current studies possibly wrongly assume a distinctive or at least dominant use of initial sound tables or basic readers.

Zur Verwendung der Forschungsplattform Regionalsprache.de (REDE) bei der Vermittlung arealer Sprachvariation in den Bereichen Deutsch als Fremdsprache und Deutsch als Zweitsprache

Integrating regional linguistic variation more heavily into classes of German as a foreign language (DaF) and German as a second language (DaZ) has been subject to discussion for quite some time in the research literature. Surveys have shown that students of DaF and DaZ are interested in learning about regional varieties of German, but that this often fails for two reasons: the lack of appropriate materials as well as reluctance on the part of teachers (cf. Baßler/Spiekermann 2001, Spiekermann 2007). Consequently, there are numerous non-standard variants of which students are not aware. It has also been observed that non-standard linguistic structures can lead to miscomprehension (cf. Negele 2012: 94). This con-tribution calls attention to two desiderata: 1. Areal linguistic variation is covered only sel-dom in DaF and DaZ classes. 2. There is insufficient suitable teaching material for treating and imparting knowledge on regional linguistic variants in these classes. The goal of the present contribution is then twofold: to provide teachers and textbook authors with information about the resources available over the research platform Regionalsprache.de (REDE) and then to give some impulses for its use in DaF and DaZ courses.

Understanding the People and the Language Around You: Using Awareness‐Raising Action Research in Undergraduate Education Abroad

This collaborative research project developed out of an undergraduate German class in an abroad context, which had the goal of assisting students in maximizing their experience through awareness‐raising activities including action research. Here we focus on the collaborative action research projects conducted by the students. Each of the five projects was guided by the same four research questions: (1) What observations were made in the abroad context? (2) How are these aspects taught in the pre‐departure classes? (3) How were these phenomena observed? (4) What are the implications for participant‐researchers and pre‐departure instruction? Through the action research projects, participant‐researchers gained a better understanding of differences between what they assumed to be true based on what they had learned and what they hypothesized to be true based on their experiences. Through systematic investigation, participant‐researchers were able to evaluate their hypotheses. This article provides suggestions for activities and materials pre‐departure as well as when abroad to better prepare students for important nuances in the target language, many of which were pragmatic in nature.

Opportunities to Develop Intercultural Communicative Competence in Czech lower-secondary schools: Findings of the IRSE Video Study of German

Abstract The empirical study deals with the topic of teaching intercultural communicative competence (ICC) in Czech lower-secondary German classes. The aim of the study is to investigate the quantity and quality of the opportunities to develop ICC, the proportion of activities aimed at developing the cognitive, affective, and behavioural component of ICC, the proportion of activities focused on Big-C Culture and small-c culture and culture-general and culture-specific topics. The introductory part and the following part of the study introduce its theoretical background, and terminology is then followed by the methodological part describing the sample (28 German lessons of 7 teachers videotaped in the 8th and 9th grades of Czech lower-secondary classes at seven schools in Jihomoravský region within the IRSE Video Study of German1 project), the way of processing the data (recording, transcription, coding), the research questions and a system of categories (a system for assessing teaching ICC), that was used for analyses of the videotaped lessons. The findings show that emphasis is put on the cognitive component of ICC, while the other components (behavioural and affective) stay at the background. These results are consistent with the results of the IRSE Video Study of English project (Zerzová, 2012), which has the potential of initiating discussion for both English and German language teaching methodologies.

Student’s Use of English in German Lessons

In language learning, teachers often encounter multilingualism when teaching a specific language. Multilingualism is the ability to use languages in an interconnected way; languages as such can be thus approached rather as a linguistic repertoire. In this study, we look at how students (and teachers) in Czech schools deal with English use within German lessons. In this context English is the first foreign language taught to students and German the second foreign tongue taught in school. Twenty-eight lessons from four experienced language teachers were recorded at lower-secondary level. Conversational analysis of transcripts identified 65 instances of English use in German classes. The analysis suggests that English is used in three ways, either it is seen as a source of a problem that needs to be repaired, it is accepted practice, or the use of Eng- lish is initiated by the teacher. Our analysis suggests that using English language in German lessons and potentially multilingualism in teaching does not have a clearly defined status. Furthermore, inconsistency in teacher responses to multilingualism may require clearer consideration as to if languages are taught as discreet entities or more flexible linguistic mechanisms may be adopted to facilitate learning.

Making short‐term study abroad count—Effects on German language skills

This study investigated the effects of an intensive summer program on students’ writing, reading, listening, vocabulary, and grammar skills. The program consisted of 4 weeks at the U.S. home institution and 4 weeks in Berlin, Germany, and offered the equivalent of two college‐level, second‐year German classes in one summer. During the last three summers, students’ language skills were assessed before and after each summer program using the DIALANG assessment tool. Data were also collected from students participating in the regular‐semester classes, and the outcomes of students in fourth‐semester German were compared to those of students in the summer program. Data revealed that the summer students made statistically significant improvements in all language areas from before to after the program. They outperformed the students who completed the regular courses at home in the areas of vocabulary and listening but achieved lower levels in reading. The results suggest that intensive summer programs that combine at‐home courses and a short‐term stay abroad have positive effects on students’ second language skills and can provide a viable option for students who are unable to spend longer periods in the target country.